toronto versus gawker, versus toronto star, versus crowd funding power of people eager to see the supposed crack smoking mayor video and eventually something's going to have to give. "weekends with alex witt" starts now. open for business. the first test of the jersey shore since hurricane sandy. but the memorial weekend weather may not cooperate. in fact there is snow in the forecast. moment of impact. new video from that bridge collapse, and it shows when a fully loaded semi truck hit a support beam. closing gitmo. a realistic assessment today of whether the u.s. could shut down the prison for alleged terrorists. where would they go? and life or death? after an agonizingly long trial, another twist in the case that may make it drag on for a few more weeks. but should it? a legal panel weighs in. good morning to all of you. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." now here's what's happening out

there. a dreary start to the memorial day weekend. look outside for those of you here on the east coast and you'll see it for yourself. getting rain-soaked here. some in the northeast might actually see snow today. it is a pivotal weekend for the jersey shore. business owners plunged into the water in ocean city friday to show the beaches are open. they are hoping to bring business back after hurricane sandy took that huge financial toll of $37 billion across the state. and seaside heights, a shore town that took one of the biggest hits from the storm, officially reopened its beach, its boardwalk and all the arcades. nbc's michelle franzen is out there for us now. so, despite the rain, how does it look? ready for visitors? >> i have to tell you alex it has been a long seven months for seaside heights and all up and down the shore. and everyone affected by sandy. seven months ago i was standing here and this boardwalk was destroyed. rebuilt behind me at this time. of course, the landscape dramatically changed. the beaches, of course, the

amusement rights are not back. but the businesses are reopened here. on the board walk for seaside heights and the business owners have certainly made a great effort to make sure that they could be opened for this symbolic, unofficial start to summer. as you mentioned, the weather not quite cooperating like business owners and everyone else would like. but, they're also still coming out here to the shore to show their support. >> the weather could be better but we're having a good time. >> this is something to deal with, an uncontrollable fact iris the weather. but we grind it out and let people see what you have. >> would have been nicer on a warmer day. but it doesn't matter. we're having a good time, rain or shine. whether it's cold or warm, it's a great, happy place to be. >> and of course this whole weekend isn't supposed to be a wash. tomorrow the sun is supposed to be back out and business owners are hoping that that, too, will bring the crowds out. alex? >> absolutely. with regard to the beach, we talked about how the folks there

at seaside heights got into the water. but are there any concerns about leftover debris from sandy still being in the water? is that pretty much been cleared out? >> they've been doing a great job over the last few months. obviously of clearing that debris. seaside heights here, of course, got a lot of attention in terms of rebuilding. up the road here towards ortley beach there is still a lot of debris but they're working around the clock very hard on that. and now that we're getting into summer they'll be able to certainly work on those homes. the water is, we're told, just fine here. and everyone is just gearing up for what they hope will be a return for the summer. >> yep. let's hope mother nature starts cooperating soon. thanks so much michelle franzen. appreciate that. let's check out the forecast. meteorologist dylan dreyer is here now with the rest of the holiday weekend. good morning, dylan. >> thanks, alex. good morning. it is going to be a chilly start to the unofficial kickoff of

summertime here for memorial day weekend. temperatures in the northeast starting off in the 40s and 50s. but it's only going to top out in the mid 50s later on this afternoon. in boston, it's about almost 25 degrees below normal for this time of year. and it's even very much below normal back through the great lakes as well. the warmest part of the country is right in the plains where we'll be in the 80s and almost 90 degrees today in denver. we do have a couple of rainy spots. especially in the northeast. there's this low pressure system spinning off the coastline. that is wrapping in some of the moisture. so off and on showers, sometimes heavy, but mostly just those moderate nuisance showers. and a cold rain at that across the northeast. we'll keep an eye out for some stronger storms today, especially through the northern plains. most likely across the dakotas, into parts of montana today. although we are starting off the day with some heavy downpours in southeastern nebraska this morning. so it is going to be a little chilly. 53 in boston for a high today. but washington, d.c. should make it up close to 70. we'll keep an eye out for those storms but minneapolis only topping out around 62 today.

tomorrow's a little chilly, still back across the northern plains and the midwest. 62 in chicago on sunday. we should get back up to about 68 in new york city, though. on sunday, and it gets even warmer for memorial day itself. 50s, though, stick around in boston. but it should get back to the 60s by monday. alex? appreciate that. now to front page politics. an apology from paula broadwell in her first sit-down interview since her extramarital affair with former cia director david petraeus came to light about six months ago. petraeus was forced to resign in november after admitting to the affair. >> i have remorse for the harm that this has caused, the sadness it's caused in my family and other families. and for causes -- >> a new report in the national journal suggests gop senators and congressmen plan on keeping the washington, d.c. controversies alive in their home districts. report says republicans will

focus on the irs targeting conservative groups and blame the obama administration for being unaccountable. meantime a new gallup poll finds 42% of americans feel the irs is doing a poor job. and tough words from the former executive editor of the jerusalem post on the u.s. handling of foreign affairs. quote in the short term, obama's pro-live righting crises are clouding the democrats prospects in next year's midterm elections. in the longer-term they further reduce the already low prospect that once he departs obama will have left much of an imprint on the international system in general and the middle east in particular. end quote. for more i'm joined by republican congressman luke messer, member of the foreign affairs committee. representative messer, thanks for starting out your holiday weekend with us. >> thanks, alex. glad to be here. >> nice and early. let's take a listen to part of the president's speech on thursday. here it is. >> we must define our effort not as a boundless global war on terror, but rather as a series of persistent targeted efforts

to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten america. >> so what's your response to that? >> well, i think there's a fundamental disagreement here about the nature of the war on terror. i think many conservatives believe that the war on terror is closer to the cold war, where there were two very different world views in this -- on this planet, the communists who were try being to end the western way of life. i think the war on terror is like that. we take no joy in this war. we did not pick this fight. but there are islamic extremists around the world that mate america and are murdering and bringing terror to not only trying to bring it to american soil, but to american sites around the world. and i think we need to stay ever vigilant. now, if the president's referring to whether we should be at war in iraq or afghanistan forever i think there's a consensus that we should not do that. but, i think we need to understand this ask not a series of law enforcement actions against some bad guys that are doing bad things.

it is a philosophy, islamic extremists, who are going to be at battle with america for a very long time. >> well, it's interesting you say that because your committee's chairman ed roist released a statement following the president's speech and he wrote, quote the troubling reality is that the president continues to underestimate the serious threat that al qaeda and its affiliated and inspired terrorists present to americans. now is not the time to abandon robust efforts to keep americans safe. now, this about the very same president who's been criticized around the world for being too aggressive, and he didn't say on thursday that he was ending the use of drones. i mean, so this really a fair criticism by mr. roist? >> well, again, i think the president is if the president's talking about our wars in iraq and afghanistan, clearly we're a war-weary nation. people are ready for those wars to try to come to a close. i think if the president is referring to the fact that we can somehow say we declared a victory on the war on terror or we want to treat these things like a series of law enforcement

actions we can. you reference the drones. you know, listen, i think that if someone -- i think most americans believe if someone runs off to a foreign nation, hangs out with terrorists who are trying to destroy america, you ought not be surprised if you end up on the business end of a drone. but this is a nation of laws, and i do agree that with the president's statements that he would like to limit the use of them and make sure when they're used that they're used in a way that includes due process. >> do you know what's interesting? it's not as if the president's declared victory here. the fact is he's trying to be more specific about this global war on terror. that has a somewhat nebulous entity to it, because it's hard to define. global war on terror. you look at that and try to get your head around it. he's trying to give specific reasons and examples as to how we need to approach this and combat that. do you agree with that? >> well, i think parts of his speech, i certainly would agree with. again, i think we need to understand that the war on terror is much like the cold war. it's a war between two very

different philosophies, where we didn't pick this fight. the folks on the other side did. they want to destroy our way of life. we need to stay lidge length in making sure that we protect americans and preserve our way of life. >> what about the president having said that he wants to replace guantanamo bay with a new location, somewhere on u.s. soil for the military tribunals and certainly this has faced pretty strong republican opposition in the past. where do you stand on that? >> well, i really question the wisdom of bringing these terrorists to american soil. i see it as something frankly a little tactical, and also, though, a little political. i think there's -- there's no irony or there is some irony here that the president is talking about closing guantanamo, something that would appease progressive and liberals when he's currently under fire from progressive and liberals for the actions of the irs, and in targeting americans for their political beliefs, for the actions of the department of justice.

from spying on the associated press, and i think, frankly, some of that portion of his speech was of a political response to the pressure that he's getting on other topics from progressives and liberals. >> but, sir, do you think it is america's policy to keep right now 32 people in detention that they have to force-feed, they have to tube-feed because of the hunger strikes they're on. when you look at the cost of keeping gitmo open, 160 detainees there now about $150 million a year. is this really a sustainable solution? >> well, i mean, listen. i think when you look at the cost of guantanamo the first thing to set it off against is how much are you willing to do to protect american soil and make sure we're safe from terrorists? so far guantanamo bay has worked. and i think we need to be careful before we change that policy. obviously, there are some things going on in guantanamo bay that none of us are proud of. and when it comes to the efforts

of -- to self-starve themselves there in protest, we need to respond. i'm certainly not going to applaud those efforts. but i think we need to be very careful before we change course in the midst of the very large, real threats we see today. i mean, just a few weeks ago this nation endured a terrible tragedy in boston. >> we certainly did. republican congressman luke messer of the foreign affairs committee. have a great weekend. appreciate your time. >> thank you. new video of a major interstate bridge as it collapsed. 's possible, if you have the right tools. ryobi has over 50 products that work off of one 18 volt battery. and with new improved lithium and lithium plus batteries, you'll get a while lot more done in less time. plus, they'll improve the performance of every 18 volt tool we've ever made. now that's getting more power for your money. ryobi one plus. the one system that delivers more. available only one place. the home depot.

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today in tonight ravaged moore, oklahoma, residents are continuing the daunting cleanup effort. but for the high school students of the town at least one

tradition of normal life is going on as planned. joining me now for more is nbc's ron mott. ron, it is graduation day. so what's the mood like there. >> big day today, alex. obviously it's a bittersweet weekend. we've got some funerals continuing today, of course. but it is graduation day for the three high schools in town. they'll be holding those commencement exercises up in oklahoma city, and back to back to back ceremonies, so it gives their parents and their friends and families something to cheer here at the end of a very trying week. but we're also hearing this morning some of those chilling 911 calls that flooded in to emergency centers monday afternoon. one of those calls came from a day-care center not very far from here, very chilling call. listen. >> we've got a day care full of babies. >> okay. >> we need help bad. >> okay. >> we need help bad. we got a day care that just got cremated. >> okay, sir, where you at? >> we got -- huh? >> where you at? >> what's the name of the day -- what's the address? [ inaudible ]

>> five four south telephone. we've got tons of babies in here. >> okay, we'll get somebody out there. >> all right. we need help bad. >> you can really hear the confusion and the terror in his voice. 15 children made it out of there unharmed. that building was leveled like much of moore here. but those 15 babies made it out of there safely. graduation day, something to cheer today. obviously people are still in mourning, alex. >> oh, that was hard to listen to. i'm so glad at least those babies made it out safely. ron mott, thank you so much. a memorial day message this morning from president obama in his weekly address, praising the sacrifices of the military. >> the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform isn't always readily apparent, that's partly because our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coast guardsmen are so skilled at what they do. it's also because those that serve tend to do so quietly. they don't seek the limelight. they don't serve for our

admiration or even our gratitude. >> that comes on the heels of a very different message he dlafred to the naval academy about sex assaults in the military. joining me now from the white house, nbc's kristen welker, and kristen with a good saturday morning to you. i'm very happy to see the sunshine behind you there. that's good news. what did the president say on friday? >> well, he delivered a strong message, alex, and called for those graduates at the u.s. naval academy to stomp out sexual abuse in the military, and he said it's really up to their generation, the next generation, of military leaders to take the charge in trying to make that happen. and, of course, that strong message comes on the heels of a really blistering report by the defense department which shows that unreported cases of sexual assault had increased by an estimated 37% last year. that's about 26,000 cases. and alex, the president made the argument it's not just a matter of conduct. it's actually a matter of national security to make sure

that that problem gets eroded. take a listen to a little bit more of what he had to say. >> we must acknowledge that even here, even in our military, we've seen how the misconduct of some can have effects that ripple far and wide. in our digital age a single image from the battlefield of troops falling short of their standards can go viral and endanger our forces and undermine our efforts to achieve security and peace. likewise, those who commit sexual assault are not only committing a crime, they threaten the trust and discipline that makes our military strong. that's why we have to be determined to stop these crimes. because they've got no place in the greatest military on earth. >> and alex, we are learning today that according to military officials the army has launched a new investigation into allegations of possible sexual

misconduct at the space and missile defense command in alaska. no charges have been filed but it underscores just how pervasive this problem is. we should say defense secretary chuck hagel will be at west point today at that graduation ceremony with a very similar message. >> okay. kristen, stay with us. i want to bring in ed o'keefe there "the washington post." ed has a front page story today about the move to crack down on military sex assaults. so ed, as i welcome you to the confidence, you have the pentagon releasing this report that as many as 26,000 service members may have been sexually assaulted in just 2012. that is staggering. has the military or the white house offered any tangible solution? i mean how do you stop it? >> well, they're talking about it. certainly you've seen the president use a commencement address at one of the military academies, certainly a misage that should permeate, and defense secretary hagel and the top brass at all the different services have made clear that they don't tolerate this anymore. but i think more than anything, just the fact that they are now

rooting out these different allegations, whether it's fort greeley, fort hood, west point, and other locations around the world, sort of sends the signal that they're starting to take this much more seriously. you're seeing a big push on capitol hill, as well. there's a hearing scheduled for june 4th where they're dragging in most of the joint chiefs and top jag officials at each of the services as well to start talking about this. you'll see a lot of debate about this this year in what's called the national defense authorization act. the one that sets pentagon policy. democratic leaders in the senate have said they expect it to be a part of the conversation. house speaker boehner this week said it will also be part of the discussion in the house. somehow establishing a new policy regarding how these are handled, who makes the final decisions. >> i guess the question begs to be asked, how did it get this bad? is there an explanation for that? >> there's all sorts of different reasons. they believe now that people are more willing to actually come forth and talk about it. but there's still a big concern that many people, and i say people, not just women, but a lot of guys also face this

problem in the military, that they're becoming more willing to talk about it, and yet there are others who fear retribution so they stay quiet. and so they're trying to make it clear that if you come forward, we will give you the assistance you need. we understand that this is a big problem. a lot of different reasons. the combat stress. the idea that people are on these, you know, multiple deployments and so the stress of it all just gets to them. >> yeah. >> some military commanders have suggested it's the hookup culture which angered a lot of lawmakers and victims to say that you know, suggest that people were being a little too promiscuous even and that really did upset some people. >> kristen quickly, with the president having delivered a couple of day's worth of speeches that are policy framing is this his way to frame shape his second-term agenda and get away from the controversies swirling around? >> oh, i think absolutely, alex. and that speech on thursday was pivotal for the president. his first counterterrorism of his second term and he really

mapped out how he wants to move forward essentially saying that he's moving away from this idea of a war on terror, making the argument that al qaeda has been decimated and that new tools are required to really fight this evolving war that we see abroad. you heard him defend his use of drones, but also call for new limits on drones and also call, again, for closing guantanamo bay, some controversial ideas, certainly, behind the scenes they definitely want to move away, though, from these controversies that we've seen in the irs and the defense department, because there is a concern that that could limit his ability to pursue a second-term agenda. >> kristen welker, thanks. ed o'keefe, many thanks from our bureau. >> take care. >> what is driving up the price of beer? it may surprise you. changing the world is exhausting business.

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now to our three big money headlines. planes, trains and automobiles. moving on up. hipster hangover. joining me live "usa today"

contributor regina lewis. welcome to you. let's get with memorial day weekend travel here. fewer people are expected to hit the road this year? >> it looks like it. i think the verdict is out. definitely fewer people expected to hit the skies. about 2 million. it is very much a driving holiday to the tune of 30 million people. hitting the road. i think at this time of year, what's interesting, alex, is the summer feels long and people have fluctuating incomes. they're confident but not that confident. so, they say you know what? we've got to just make sure we've got some in reserve for fourth of july. and so that we don't run out come labor day. we also see people having fuel efficient cars for commuting and renting larger vehicles for their family. an suv, for instance, for weekends like this. >> what about the housing market? it's starting to turn around, it seems. >> this is good news all around i think. what's really interesting is a lot of data out, one of the points that i thought was most striking is the average new home now is $330,000. that's new construction.

the median is also quite high. so a year ago when we started to see the toll brothers of the world come back in the game it was at a much lower price point. what all the construction companies and builders are trying to do now is really preserve prices. they don't want to have that situation. you'll recall in 2008, i can remember driving around and screaming out my car window, stop building. because there were just too many homes and some of them went into distress sales. it's nice to see this methodically turning around. and inventory is the key there. and they're going to build smartly. and probably conservatively in terms of numbers. >> what about beer? you're going to pay more for it this holiday weekend. >> we are especially the red, white and blue pabst blue ribbon. i can remember my uncles drinking this growing up. they drank it because it was cheap. now it's cool. so this is a classic example of a retro brand on the low end, names like this, are up 7%. to your point about being more expensive. and that's in the last seven

months. because microbrewery, everybody's got their favorite lagger these days because that category is high and expensive, it is pulling up this lower tier. if you could be a cool enough brand. and apparently this red, white and blue pabst is the coolest of the cool. >> okay. well, leave it to you 20 give us hat kind of info. i appreciate it. have a good weekend. so do any of you plan on spending more money this summer? if so how? @alexwitt. i'll get to reading some of your tweets throughout the day. in this morning's one-minute playback. insight into what it was like to be a juror in the jodi arias trial. the panel failed to reach a decision as to whether arias should be given the death penalty. eight jurors wanted the death penalty. the other four wanted life in prison. on friday the foreman described the deliberations and his reaction to the attention the case received. >> the responsibility was overwhelming. and i think that by the end of

it we were mentally, emotionally exhausted. i think we were -- we were horrified when we found out that they actually called a mistrial and we felt like we had failed. we had to sit in judgment on another human. what she did was horrible. it was horrendous. and she has to be held accountable and responsible for that. but for people out to be yelling and screeing, you know, some of the horrible things we've heard, when they don't know what's going on, is ridiculous in my humble opinion. >> the foreman has said jurors have agreed not to discuss how they voted because they feel their decisions were personal and should remain that way. in minutes a legal panel weighs in on how a new jury will be selected ♪

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but you can make out the moment there when the bridge crumpled and just dropped into the river after that truck apparently hit a support beam. let's go to nbc's amon who has an updebt. good morning to you. >> good morning, alex. this bridge sits on one of washington's busiest corridors. the i-5. it essentially links seattle to vancouver, canada. you can imagine ahead of this memorial day weekend it was supposed to be full of passengers. in fact 70,000 cars pass this bridge every day. and that's really what has officials here under the gun right now. they're really trying to scramble and get those cars moving to the other side of the river as swiftly as possible. as you can imagine it's a bit of a challenge. more importantly they're trying to determine what exactly happened here. this new video shows the moment an oversized truck struck the skagit river bridge, collapsing it, and sending two vehicles on a 25-foot plunge. >> bridge over i-5 just collapsed. we have vehicles in the water.

>> reporter: all three people inside those cars survived, including 20-year-old bryce kenny. >> it was just a straight nose dive into the water. >> reporter: federal and state inspectors say a truck with an oversize load is to blame. >> a very heavy vehicle crashed into not just one but probably multiple girders on the bridge and it failed. >> reporter: the truck driver william d. scott is being questioned by investigators. his wife says her husband is okay. >> he is shaken up. he was really scared for the people that were -- who had fallen off the bridge and he was really happy to hear that they were fine, to see that they were fine. and that was the real blessing. >> reporter: the skagit river bridge about 1100 feet long was built in 1955. inspected just last november, it was listed as functionally obsolete by the federal highway administration. which means the design is outdated, but structurally sound. >> it was generally a healthy bridge. and it could continue to operate. that doesn't mean that there aren't things that could have

been done to improve the bridge. >> reporter: experts say bridges across the country are vulnerable. according to the american society of civil engineers, one in nine of the nation's bridges are rated as structurally deficie deficient. >> there are nor structurally deficient bridges in our big cities than mcdonald's franchises nationwide. >> reporter: as the weekend travel rush gets under way officials are scrambling to redirect traffic across the river as swiftly as possible. now investigators have also spoken to that truck driver. he has passed a blood and alcohol test that he took voluntarily. more importantly, state officials say that it could take weeks, at best, to get this bridge back up and running. but it's going to cost up to $15 million, according to the governor of washington state. alex? >> that is an extraordinary story. thank you very much for the early reporting. i appreciate it. well, back in washington, president obama has reset in the fight against terrorism this week as he met with both

skepticism and praise among the key points in his broad national security speech thursday narrowing the scope of america's drone program and shutting down guantanamo bay. >> guantanamo is not necessary to keep america safe. it is expensive. it is inefficient. it is a recruitment tool for extremists. it needs to be closed. >> on the front page of today's "washington post" an examination of how difficult it might be to shut down gitmo. and joining me now greg miller, intelligence reporter for "the washington post." greg, with a welcome to you on this saturday morning. your colleague wrote today's piece. you covered the president's speech. what is the realistic takeaway. can and will gitmo be closed? >> i think we'll see transfers of some detainees out of gitmo for the first time in awhile. but i don't think gitmo itself will be closed any time soon. that remains a distant prospect largely for political reasons. >> transfers where.

here in the states? overseas? >> no transfers, the initial transfers i think we'll see will go overseas. there are a number of -- 86 of the detainees there have already been approved for these transfers. it's just a matter of getting the certifications to get those transfers going again. 56 of them have been -- are yemeni. they're from yemen. so there's been a lot of concern about political instability in yemen and what might happen if they were returned to that country and fears they could be released or escape. >> for those who might be transferred elsewhere here in the states how is that different in terms of their treatment and everything about it? than being kept in gitmo. >> well, of course, they can't be trazer iffed here to the united states, congress has blocked that from happening. the president indicated he'd like to set up a location in the united states for military commission so some could be brought here and tried. that's going to require some serious negotiations with congress. but, you know, the fact is that most of them can be taken

overseas, and then there's several dozen of them that are the real hard problem who are considered too dangerous to ever release. and so the president didn't give any indication of what his plans are to do with those prisoners. >> you talk about those couple of dozen that are too difficult. of the 166 that are in gitmo do we know all of the threat levels they pose? could some actually just be released? >> well, it's unclear. yeah, some of them fall into categories where they've been in detention for a long time now and the united states would be okay releasing them to their home countries, which include, you know, yemen, saudi arabia, algeria, and others. but want some assurances that they will be, you know, tracked. that there will be some effort to keep track of them, if not keep them incarcerated awhile longer on their return. >> another thorny issue. america's drone warfare. here's the president on thursday. >> america does not take strikes to punish individuals, we act against terrorists who pose a

continuing and imminent threat to the american people. and when there are no other governments capable of effectively addressing the threat. and before any strike is taken, there must be near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured. the highest standard we can set. >> so the president's there defending the drone program, however narrowing its focus. but ultimately is there any substantive change? >> yeah, i think there are substantive changes here. i mean, he has narrowed the criteria so that there are -- so that the level of precision is supposed to be higher going forward. and he has now, in a policy set of guidelines established what they call a preference that the military carry out these strikes, rather than the cia. now that leaves him a lot of latitude. using the term preference means it's not a hard rule. it's not a hard switch. so you can go maintain the

ability to use the cia when necessary, or when it's considered necessary. >> at the end of that sound bite from the president saying that the u.s. would use drones only in cases where avoiding civilian casualties is a near certainty. was that his attempt at sort of quieting the moral questions there? and did the u.s. pay attention to avoiding civilian casualties before? >> yeah, i think that they have always paid attention to avoiding civilian casualties. but i mean, you'll find plenty of critics to say that they haven't done a very good job. more than 3,000 people have been killed in cia and military drone strikes in pakistan and yemen, and hundreds of those have been civilians. in many cases women and children. those numbers have gotten better over time, as the strikes have gotten more accurate. but the fact is that, you know, the public doesn't really have any accurate way to measure these. and the president once again did not disclose the government's own estimates of how many people it has killed. or how many of those it thinks were civilians. >> another issue the president's

raised, he's troubled by the recent possibility of the recent department of justice leak investigations -- are you getting a sense that some of your sources would stop talking? >> sure, yeah, clearly. that's been a case for some time. even before these latest developments this is an administration that had six leaks prosecutions under way which is more than all previous presidents combined. and that has certainly had a chilling effect. i've heard that from many of my officials that i've talked to for years on this beat. >> okay. greg miller. many thanks. in today's office politics will the controversies facing president obama take a toll? my conversation with the grio's managing editor next. i think she tried to kill us. [ sighs ]

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>> so basically my name is joy ann that is my name on my birth certificate but throughout my life joy ann has gotten shortened to joann. it's almost like a tech. if i tell people it's joy ann it will become joann. it becomes like a stumbling block. there were some that were easy with the joy ann. but others it was kind of a stumbling block. people were like what is your name again? i said call me joy. >> what do you want me to call you? >> well, see you started calling me joy ann so that's kind of like a term of endearment. i don't want to let it go. >> let's begin with the president. there's a new poll that suggests the public believes the irs and benghazi controversies are going to make it harder for the president to get his agenda done. what's your take on that? >> that presumes that it was not going to be impossible for the president to get his agenda done. i think we're in this point now where politics is 24/7, and it's a campaign. the campaign kind of never ends. you know, barack obama said something during a recent

fund-raiser in new york last week that i thought was entirely not true. he said you know what? we figured if we just beat them again it would break the fever in 2012. i think that presumes that this is a fever that can be broken. we are in the age of four-year campaigns. so that when an election is over, it's not over for the losing party. they just keep fighting the campaign. so i think the president was going to have a really hard time getting anything through the congress, particularly the house of representatives anyway. now that republicans have seized on these issues, and the media, this is what we're going to be doing at least through the summer. we're just going to be doing the scandal hunt. >> in terms of the scandal hunt it seems to me like the irs scandal is the one that's turned the most weight right now. >> it's difficult. because we wanted the irs and the white house to be completely separate since the nixon days because of those abuses where you have a white house sort of sic'ing the irs on their political opponent. since there's no evidence that this situation went into the white house or came from the white house which would be truly scandalous if it was directed by

the white house, without any evidence of that we basically just have president obama was in office when it happened but the irs commissioner at the time the was a george w. bush appointee. i think people are always sort of afraid of the irs. it is a boogeyman for everyone. ofry taxpayer worries about being audited. it feeds into a pre-existing negative feeling about the irs. people can relate to the idea of the irs harassing you. if you just read on a cursory level it's something that could hurt, you know, i guess the administration because people will associate it with barack obama. but i think the people who care most about this issue, which would be conservatives, republicans and the tea party, they're already mad at the president. they were already looking for reasons. >> if you were able to advise him how to handle this matter what does he do? >> i think this would be a good time to go back and look at structural reform of the tax code. ironically enough one of the issues that got put on the back burner because of sequester and other issue was looking at the tax code. i think what the president could do is appoint a commission and say we want to go through and

thoroughly look at the tax code. look at whether the 501 c 4 situation makes sense. he should say let's have a national conversation about the tax code and see if republicans bite. >> more of our conversation today at 12:00 noon. we talk about the upcoming trial in sanford, florida. george zimmerman facing a second degree murder charge in the death of trayvon martin. how will a brand-new jury be able to decide whether jodi arias lives or dies now that this one was deadlocked? suppor. and the brand most recommended by... my doctor. my gynecologist. my pharmacist. citracal. citracal. [ female announcer ] you trust your doctor. doctors trust citracal. about the walmart low price guarantee backed by ad match. breyers, vanilla? it's for the kids. sure it is! okay, that price? walmart will match it at the register. i didn't know that. oh, wow! that's the walmart low price guarantee! save time and money this memorial day. bring in ads from your local stores and see for yourself.

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we the jury duly impanelled and sworn upon our oaths unanimously find having considered all of the facts and circumstances that the defendant should be sentenced -- no unanimous agreement signed foreperson. >> you can see the relief there on her face. jodi arias the sequel. you heard that jury unable to whether keep the convicted murderer up for life or give her the death penalty. the retrial is set for july 18th. but they have to do this with a

new jury and this could drag on for months. lisa green legal analyst and defense attorney and former prosecutor karen desoto. thank you ladies for being here. how do they go about selecting a new jury. >> if we go forward and see a new jury in this case it could take weeks or months to find an impartial juror. just about everyone has heard something about this case. more specifically has seen jodi arias' jailhouse interviews. you need an impartial jury. big hurdle in this case. >> she said if. what's the if here, karen? >> i mean the if is whether or not the judge says to the prosecutor listen why don't you make a deal. we saw with the kermit gosnell case. the deal they made with him if you don't appeal we'll give you life in prison. the prosecutor has the ability to end this right now and not spend endless amounts of money in this case and going through this again when let's be realistic.

they are not going to get the death penalty if you had a split with the other jury who heard all the evidence and unlikely. people don't like kill people. that's just the way it is. why go through this. >> reportedly eight people voted for the death penalty, four couldn't come to that conclusion life in prison. karen mentions money. how much is that considered? does a judge look at this and say we're wasting the state as time, we can get this done. is that part of this? >> everyone is aware that it's cost more than a million dollars in taxpayer money to defend jodi arias which is her right. i think the judge is looking at the prosecution's inability to really bring this case to the final penalty that the prosecution sought and karen is right, you could definitely understand why a judge might say we've seen what happened, there's no need to double down here. >> you're wasting the judge's time. you spent four months and spend more time when she should be trying other cases. this case should have pled out to begin which jodi arias'

defense attorneys tried to do. now if they end up with the same result, they spent millions of $times resources for what. why her. why the death penalty. there's 500 murderers a month in arizona. >> what are we to believe, with jodi arias. she gives an interview shortly after her conviction and says i welcome death, i get my freedom more quickly by having death. then they defend her so she doesn't go for the death penalty. future jurors here, what are they to believe and what does the judge do if they don't come to a conclusion. >> if there's another jury impanelled and reach the same result, the judge can administer a life sentence with or without parole. it's easy to see why there would be ad slow indicates for skipping that next jury step and going directly to that result. as for arias, it's unusual for a defendant to be that talkative

and unhelpful. however she said i welcome death and then spoke in front of the jury, got this result. so maybe in the end not as meaningful as we might have thought. >> if i learned one thing, it is shut up when it comes to being a defendant. karen has said that time and time again. karen, lisa said the judge could impose life in prison with or without parole. >> 25 years to life. >> can a judge impose the death penalty? >> no. at least in arizona that has to be decided. that's why it has to be unanimous and that's why you don't do death penalty cases unless it's a heinous crime, torture, multiple murder, dismemberment because it's difficult for jurors to get together. you're killing another human people. most people were raised thou shalt not kill. >> i won't ask you to tell us what will happen. >> if they were smart they would make a deal and it would be

over. >> it's statistically harder for prosecutions to get women the death penalty in cases than men. >> thanks, ladies. that's a wrap of this hour of weeke"weekends with alex wi." join me at noon. more smart political talk on "up with steve kornacki." it's a cold unofficial kick off to summer this weekend in the northeast. temperatures only in the mid-50s. that's about 15 to 25 degrees below normal. kansas city should top out around 80 with isolated thunderstorms this afternoon. more midwest storms as we head into sunday. the northeast does start to warm up, 68 in new york city hanging on to the 50s in boston. [ clang ] my house is where plants came to die. but, it turns out all i was missing was miracle-gro potting mix. it's got what a plant needs like miracle-gro plant food that feeds them for up to six months.

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